![\"Jeffrey](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_8094.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nVolunteers, artists and families are giving Mountain View Community Park in San Diego a fresh look while working to preserve the history and cultural identity of a gathering place that has served the neighborhood for decades.<\/p>\n
The more than 12-acre pubic open space along South Boundary Street is undergoing community-led beautification projects, with volunteers painting, cleaning and restoring features that reflect the park’s deep roots in the Black community.<\/p>\n
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Jeffrey Hayes is a life-time resident of Mountain View. He is chairman of the Community Recreation Group restoring Neal Petties Community Park, August 30, 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is a second chance for this park to bring it back to what it used to be,\u201d Jeffrey Hayes said.<\/p>\n
Hayes has lived his entire life in the neighborhood and led the effort to rename the park for Neal Petties,<\/a> a late former NFL player who later became the park’s manager. <\/p>\n Volunteers have already created artwork on a fence honoring Petties.<\/p>\n The park features red, green and black colors as a visual representation of the African American community.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody knew about this park besides the bad publicity. They never knew about nothing good, and you got a lot of good people that came from here,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n Professional artist Kim Phillips-Pea also grew up in Mountain View. <\/p>\n For the past month, she has helped Hayes organize volunteers and beautification projects, including efforts to bring back the park’s traditional cultural colors.<\/p>\n \u201cYou pick up a paint brush and paint, and before you know it, you are so involved in the work you kind of forget about those other troubles and traumas,” Phillips-Pea said.<\/p>\n Another piece of the park’s restoration came on Juneteenth this year, when a new, stronger stainless steel Black Family statue <\/a>was unveiled. <\/p>\n The statue replaced an original wooden version that had been vandalized and removed years ago.<\/p>\n The statue honors the Black family and the community that helped create the park.<\/p>\n Jackie Del Rio and her children were among those contributing to the restoration effort with a fresh coat of paint.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tM.G. PerezM.G. Perez<\/p>\n Volunteers helped with paint for Sunday’s beautification art project in Mountain View Community Park, August 30, 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cIt represents unity, family, community, and empowerment. It’s important for my kids to experience that,” Del Rio told NBC 7 Sunday while she painted. “It was their idea to volunteer for this.” <\/p>\n Her 8-year-old son, Rey\u2019Jay, also took part.<\/p>\n \u201cI like painting, and I like doing art for my community,” he said.<\/p>\n![\"Volunteers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_8096.jpeg\")
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